Hayden Wesneski’s terrific outing saves Cubs’ bullpen, leads to series win
Called up to give the Cubs insurance, Hayden Wesneski provided that and more.
The righty tossed 4 innings, allowed 1 hit, struck out 2 and saved the bullpen as the Cubs completed their West Coast trip with a 5-3 win over Arizona. The Cubs finished the 9-game road trip 5-4.
“Probably the best pitching performance of the year considering everything,” manager Craig Counsell told reporters after the game. “His travels and getting up when it was dark out, really, — 4 o’clock in the morning to catch a flight out here. He was tired and just the combination of the pitches and the intensity of the travel, lack of sleep, but he delivered a performance that we needed.
“And to get us into the 9th inning, just a really great performance.”
Wesneski was called up prior to Wednesday’s finale in Arizona as the Cubs looked to inject some life into a taxed bullpen. With 1 out in the 5th inning, Wesneski entered a sticky situation. Starter Jordan Wicks departed after allowing the Diamondbacks to tie the game at 2 and with runners on first and second. Wesneski induced a popup from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and a flyout from Christian Walker to escape the jam.
Then, he went into cruise control.
The righty retired 10 of the next 11 batters he faced and allowed Counsell to reset his bullpen a bit for the upcoming 4-game series at home against Miami that begins Thursday.
The Diamondbacks hitters, who scored 12 runs the day prior, had no answer for Wesneski. Arizona manager Torey Lovullo used lefty pinch hitters Joc Pederson and Jace Peterson to try and combat him — both were 0-for-2. The only hitter to reach base was Randal Grichuck, who hit a 1-out double in the 6th, but Wesneski got a lineout from Pederson and a groundout from Tucker Barnhart to kill the threat.
The Cubs had to cover 9.2 innings from their bullpen the last two days and had many of their main relievers down Wednesday, so Wesneski’s performance gave many of them a much-needed day off.
Counsell and the Cubs have yet to announce a starter for Thursday, but it’s likely to be Jameson Taillon making his season debut after starting the year on the IL with a back injury. He could be on a pitch or innings limit since it is his first start, so Wesneski’s work allows Counsell more options to use on Thursday if he needs to dip into his reliever corps early.